Modernizing public sector service delivery
Elevating customer experience and accessibility at Ireland’s Department of Social Protection
The Challenge
Ireland’s Department of Social Protection (DSP) promotes active participation and inclusion in society by offering income support, employment services, and other resources.
The department oversees more than 90 social programs, serving millions of people. Its work impacts the lives of everyone in the country. Historically, these programs were administered with paper applications and manual processes.
In 2014, the DSP surveyed customers to ask whether they would use an online channel to interact with the department. More than 70% of customers responded positively. This prompted the development of an online portal that would encourage customers to shift their interactions with the DSP from paper and in-person contact to self-service interactions online.
The Objective
The DSP engaged Deloitte Ireland to assist in the design and implementation of the department’s first digital platform, the MyWelfare government-to-customer (G2C) portal. Through this collaboration, Deloitte Ireland supported the DSP in the design of a technical solution for:
1. Meeting rising citizen expectations for better digital experiences;
2. Improving workflows and reducing the effort required to process paper applications; and
3. Implementing automation to effectively serve more customers with existing resources.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, the DSP established the Pandemic Unemployment Payment (PUP) program—and the Deloitte Ireland team supported the DSP in delivering the PUP functionality within weeks. The flexibility and scalability of the MyWelfare cloud platform allowed it to meet unprecedented demand.
The Solution
The DSP worked with Deloitte Ireland to support the implementation of their ambitious digital transformation program.
Throughout the program, the teams remained focused on the customers of MyWelfare, prioritizing customer experience, ease of use, accessibility, and security.
Creating the solution
The Deloitte Ireland team worked closely with the DSP in selecting the right technologies for the challenges the department faced. The DSP ultimately chose to build the MyWelfare portal on a Microsoft Azure hybrid-cloud architecture.
The new MyWelfare platform allows customers to use their own computer or mobile device to complete application forms online. This reduces the number of paper-based application forms coming into the department’s local offices.
Evolving the project
The DSP availed of Deloitte Ireland’s multi-disciplinary model to support them in different functional areas, including architectural design and development, quality assurance, cybersecurity, and DevOps. In addition, the DSP engaged with Deloitte’s global network of experts for further technical collaboration.
Process
To support the DSP in the building of the MyWelfare platform and adding new services, Deloitte followed their demand intake, imagine, deliver, and run agile methodology.
Intake
The Deloitte Ireland team worked closely with the DSP on the intake phase of the project, by participating in planning sessions with stakeholders, where online requirements for the MyWelfare platform were defined and prioritized.
Imagine
During the imagine phase, the Deloitte Ireland team supported the DSP by participating in surveys, prototype creation, and proof of concept development. This process enabled the project team to define the project’s scope and to determine its desired end state.
Deliver
The DSP team, supported by Deloitte Ireland, began building, testing, and releasing the MyWelfare platform into the production environment utilizing Agile development methodologies and supported by Deloitte’s Enterprise Value Delivery (EVD) model.
Through this phase, the teams worked in cross-functional pods to carry out development and quality assurance activities, delivering new features incrementally while effectively managing change. Additionally, broad user training and technical documentation were prepared to facilitate a seamless handover to production support teams.
Run
During the run phase, Deloitte Ireland supported the DSP team in continuously evaluating newly deployed services and seeking continuous improvement. This process utilizes customer and business feedback, logs, and web analytics to drive impactful enhancements.
Working closely with Deloitte and building a strong collaborative partnership, we have been able to deliver secure digital services that places the customer at the centre of what we do and shows our ability to innovate and simplify processes.
-Vincent Kennedy, Principal - Digital Platforms, Department of Social Protection
Outcomes
The MyWelfare platform has been instrumental in delivering on the DSP’s digital strategy for improved access to online services. A user-friendly interface supports the department’s mission of inclusion and accessibility and has helped enable customer interaction outside normal office hours.
Efficiency has increased with automated services that remove the need for officer intervention in a considerable proportion of cases. Furthermore, streamlined business processes has reduced reliance on paper-driven processes.
Finally, increased flexibility and agility has helped enable the DSP to respond quickly and effectively to new legislative requirements and changing needs.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, the DSP established the Pandemic Unemployment Payment (PUP) program—and the Deloitte Ireland team supported the DSP in delivering the PUP functionality within weeks. The flexibility and scalability of the MyWelfare cloud platform allowed it to meet unprecedented demand.
The Deloitte Ireland team continues to work with the DSP to imagine and deliver new MyWelfare services.
By the numbers
Million transactions
Online services
Million users
Million sessions
